Latvia

Latvia is a nation located in the Baltics region of Northern Europe, with its capital at Riga. Latvia's people are descended from the Finns, and many of them are Protestant (34.2%), while Catholicism makes up 24.1% of the population, Orthodox Christianity 17.8%, 2.8% other Christian faiths, and 21.1% atheist or other religions. In 1583, Poland-Lithuania conquered Latvia after the Livonian War, and Sweden conquered Latvia in 1629. From 1629 to 1710, the region was under Swedish rule, and schools were established for peasants and serfdom was abolished. However, the Russian Empire would conquer Latvia in 1710, and it would remain under Russian rule until the German Empire helped Latvia in gaining its independence in 1917 during World War I. Latvia succeeded in forcing the Soviets out of the country during the Russian Civil War, but the country would be annexed by the USSR in 1940, and Latvia was under Russian rule for 51 more years. In 1991, Latvia finally achieved independence, and it became a high income country. In 2014, Latvia had a population of 1,973,700 people.